Wednesday, July 23, 2014

When Oliver was approximately 24 hours old, a photographer from Bella Baby Photography came to our hospital room and took some complimentary pictures of our new, sweet prince. I had every intention of allowing them to take the pictures, but had no plans of ordering any of them since we had already scheduled a photographer to shoot newborn pictures at our home just a few days after arriving home from the hospital. However, there was something so sweet about professional pictures of him so young and the pics turned out great, so we decided to go ahead and buy the CD of all prints. Here are a few of my favorites:

I’ve heard many people say they don’t even remember their baby being this small, and now that Oliver is a month and a half old, I know what everyone is talking about. He had changed a lot by the time we had his newborn pictures made when he was 6 days old, so I am so glad we were able to capture some pictures of our sweet boy at only 24 hours! I will cherish these pictures for many years.

You are probably wondering why there are no pictures of me…WELL, as you can imagine, I wasn’t loving the way I looked at 24 hours post partum, so I didn’t really like any of the ones of me. However, throughout this entire experience, I have really tried to embrace the camera despite the fact that I am no where even close to my goal weight. I know that one day I’ll be glad I have these shots…SO, here is the ONLY picture I will post of myself…it’s a little hard for me to look at and I really hate it, but like I said, I know one day I’ll be glad I have it.

Also, Mimi (my mom) happened to be at the hospital visiting when these were taken and the photographer somehow talked her into stepping into a couple of pictures herself. My mom HATES to have her picture made and therefore, I have very few pictures of her and Oliver. This picture has become one of my favorites even though I’m certain she hates it. Ha!

My advice is to have the hospital pictures taken regardless of whether you have photography plans after coming home from the hospital. If you’re like me, you will be so tired and exhausted and out of it, that you probably won’t get anything decent with your own camera, and these may become some of your favorites!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

This post was written and all of the pictures were taken on July 7, 2014, which was Oliver’s 1 month birthday. Nevermind, that it’s taken me 10 days to actually getting it posted. =)

Height & Weight: 8 pounds, 8.5 ounces and 21 inches long

Sleep: Depends on the time of day…at night, you sleep great! You usually take your last bottle of the day between 9:30-11:30 pm. You wake up between 2:00-4:00 am (on nights when we are really lucky, you’ll sleep for 5-6 hours straight) to take another bottle and then fall sleep again until 5:30-6:30 am.

During the day, though, you are bright eyed and bushy tailed! You LOVE the morning time and usually stay awake for 2-3 hours in the mornings (this is when you and Daddy get some of your best one-on-one time). You will usually fall asleep for a few hours and then spend the rest of the day fighting sleep and only taking 15-30 minute cat naps. What can I say…you have 2 parents who are very social and don’t like to miss anything…I think it’s in your genes. J

Diet: You are currently eating around 7 bottles per day of about 4 oz. of breast milk or formula.

Diapers: You are still wearing Newborn diapers, but since we are almost out of those, you are about to move up to Size 1s…especially since you are over 8 pounds now.

Clothes: We have a very petite little boy on our hands! Mommy failed big time and didn’t buy many Newborn sized clothes before you were born! That was a mistake! You were so small in the hospital that even Newborn sizes were too small! You are finally starting to fill out your Newborn clothes though and you are even starting to wear some of your 0-3 Month items even though ALL of those are way too big!

Likes: Being held, taking a bath, being swaddled, going on car rides, being out in public

Dislikes: Diaper changes, clothing changes, being hungry, being laid in your bassinette without being rocked to sleep, dirty diapers

Social: You are quite the social butterfly, sweet boy! In your first month of life, you have already been to a few restaurants, your first pool party, a birthday party, the mall, Mommy’s office to meet her co-workers, and your first church service. While you slept through most of these activities, I can tell you are going to LOVE being out and about where you can see the world.

Milestones: The milestone that Mommy and Daddy are most proud of is that when we lay you on your activity mat underneath one of the toys that hang from the bars, you will hit it with your fist…it’s pretty much the most adorable thing to us. J You also lost your belly button when you were just over 2 weeks old, and you slept for your first 6 hour stretch at 2 weeks old as well (we are still waiting on this to happen again).

Thursday, July 10, 2014

We won’t even discuss the fact that my last post was almost a year ago! Let’s just ignore this (and also ignore the fact that I likely won’t get any more consistent at this blogging thing) and move right along to what’s been going on in our lives over the last year.

Patrick and I discovered in early October that we were expecting a baby! We were both SOOOOO excited and anxiously awaited June 10, 2014 (our little boy’s due date).

After a fairly uneventful pregnancy, I had my 39 week doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, June 4. Even though my blood pressure has never been high in my entire pregnancy (or my entire life, for that matter), it had spiked pretty high at this appointment. The doctor suggested I do a 24 hour urine test (I won’t go into the details of this, but I will say that it was very un-fun). I was also told that I wasn’t on bed rest, but I did need to plan on working from home on Thursday and Friday, and I also needed to stay out of the heat and plan on taking it easy for the remainder of my pregnancy.

On Friday, June 6, I received a call from my doctor around lunch time stating that based on the results of the test, I had mild preeclampsia and would need to be induced that afternoon. After getting off the phone, Patrick and I proceeded to rush around like crazy people trying to get everything finalized and prepared to head to the hospital. We also managed to take one final bump pic!

We arrived at Williamson Medical Center at 4 pm and immediately were checked in and taken to our labor and delivery room.

After getting settled, the nurse came to introduce herself, and at around 6 pm they started an IV…Issue #1: It took THREE tries to get my IV in…OUCH! They also took blood and started a drug that was intended to thin my cervix and prepare my body for labor. The rest of Friday was rather uneventful as we were just playing the waiting game.

Around midnight, I started having some light cramping, and at around 2:00 am, they decided I progressed enough to start Pitocin. As soon as they started the Pitocin, I began having some seriously painful contractions…they weren’t necessarily that intense, but they were a minute and a half to 2 minutes apart…being that close together, I could hardly tell when one ended and another began so I never really got a break at all. The nurse suggested I take some pain medication and that worked wonders! Again, it was pretty uneventful for the next couple of hours.

Around 4:30, they came in and broke my water and decided I was dilated enough to get my epidural…Issue #2: It didn’t take the first time…but no one was convinced of that in the beginning (other than ME) and they made me try to get my catheter before they would try again…Issue #3: TWO tries later, the catheter still isn’t in and I’m still feeling LOTS of painful contractions. In goes the 2nd epidural which works like a charm. This also allows me to get the catheter without any problems.

From 5:30-8:00ish, we were able to get a little sleep…Around 8:15 is where things got very interesting, very fast! My doctor came in and said (in the calmest tone I’ve ever heard anyone speak) that it seemed that the baby’s heartbeat MAY have lowered slightly and she was going to put an internal monitor on him to determine his exact heart rate. At this point, she looked at Patrick and said (again, in the calmest tone I’ve ever heard), “If the heart rate is too low, we may have to do a C Section and things could get a little hectic in here, okay?” Within about 20 seconds, she says, “Okay, the heart rate is very low and we need to do an emergency C Section immediately.” Next thing you know, there are what seems like a bazillion people in our labor & delivery room, they are pushing Patrick back into the corner and telling him to put on scrubs, and they make me turn over on my hands and knees with my rear end in the air. I seriously don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life!

Off we go down the hallway toward the operating room (yes, my butt is still up in the air…apparently, this helps gravity do it’s thing and makes the baby’s heart rate go back up), and they make Patrick stay out in the hallway while they wheel me inside. This whole experience is all a blur and all I remember is the following:

1. FREAKING OUT and one of the nurses getting in my face and telling me to breathe on each breath…thank goodness for this woman…she seriously kept me from having a panic attack.

2. Hearing the doctor say, “The heart rate is back in the hundreds, so we can try to do the delivery with the epidural instead of putting her to sleep.” Apparently, rolling down the hall with my a$$ in the air worked! Ha!

3. Asking everyone that would listen if my husband was okay…I was so worried about him because he was out in the hallway all by himself…nevermind the fact that I was laying on an operating table about to have surgery. Ha!

4. The anesthesiologist doing a “test” to see if my epidural was working enough for me to stay awake during the delivery…thank goodness it was, not only did this allow me to experience my son being born, but if I had been put to sleep they would not have allowed Patrick in the operating room.

In addition to all of the above, the most important thing I remember about this entire experience was laying on the operating table with Patrick sitting next to me, and the anesthesiologist standing on the other side of me looking over the curtain saying, “You’re going to become parents in about 10 seconds.” All of a sudden, the doctor and several nurses yell out “Congratulations!” Patrick says, “Is he here?” All of a sudden, there is a HUGE, loud cry that breaks out in the room…and that sweet little boy doesn’t stop crying for at least a full minute or more. Yes, at 8:42 am on June 7, 2014, Oliver Bailey Sun made his world debut…and he was perfect, weighing 6 pounds 13.7 ounces and 18.75” long.

After being wheeled back into my room, Oliver was brought to me and I immediately got to hold him. He was the sweetest little boy I had ever laid my eyes on. Here are a few more pictures that were taken in the hospital:

We were in the hospital until Tuesday morning. After going over all of the necessary paperwork and having Oliver’s hearing screening (that he passed with flying colors), we were finally released to head home and start our new life as a family of 3!

I am a recent newlywed living in Nashville, TN. I work for a CPA firm as a tax manager and in my spare time love to hang out with my husband and our dog, Sweet Zoey. I have a wonderful family and friends, and always have tons of fun in life!